12th Nov - Alice Springs and Eastern McDonald Ranges

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Really bad nights sleep in the hostel! It will teach me to PAY for accommodation (when I am not with Kim). I woke up at 1 itching like hell on the back parts of my legs. There were bed bugs. I had not had this when camping or staying anywhere else. I had to get up to look for my bug spray and I could not find it and ended up waking up other people. I felt very bad but there was no way that I could sleep otherwise. The others in the dorm were all on a tour that left about 5.30 and so they all woke me up when they were leaving. My alarm then woke me me up when I needed to get ready to go to the airport to meet Kim.

Got a lift with the hostel company to the airport to meet Kim at 10 and waited for her till 11. Organised my photos etc. Spoke to Qantas re my broken Pannier and they said that they would organise to get it fixed in Melbourne. We picked up our tiny red hire car - cute - and drove into Alice Springs.

Went to the tourist info office and the lovely lady gave us loads of useful information about the area etc. We now have a plan for the next few days. After doing shopping for food for camping etc for the next few days and getting a replacement day rucksack and camping gas we headed out to the Eastern McDonalds.

The sealed part of the Ross Highway goes through the Eastern McDonald Range to Ross River with various places of "interest" to stop off at along the way. We went to all of the places that where on sealed roads and we only have a little car.

The weather today was very overcast. It was good as it meant that Kim was not too hot to do the various walks etc but it was rubbish for taking pictures. The scenery and views where great through.





We popped off at Emily and Jessie Gaps. We had been saying in the supermarket earlier today that we would like a cooler to store our food but there was no point in buying one for 1 week. At Jessie Gap someone had left their cooler in the middle of the car park and there was no one else there. Awesome - we now have a cooler for the rest of the week.


We went for a little walk around Cororboee Rock and then tried to drive to Trephina Gorge. We could not get all the way in the little car as it turned into a dirt road. We decided to walk the last few km and walk the gorge walk. It was a very lovely walk up to the top with some good views across the plains.

It was getting dark and the weather was turning worse and so we were very happy when some people gave us a lift back from the foot of the gorge walk back to our car. I drove really slowly back in the dark as it was raining heavily and there are lots of wild animals on the road at this time of day.

We got into Alice about 8 and found a Motel/Backpacker place with a room for just the 2 of us with kitchen and bathroom for $60 (£40)! Awesome.

I cooked us some lovely steak Fajitas in the kitchen using my little pans. I like cooking good solid meals and there was loads left for tomorrow lunch :-)

Me being the light weight that I am got nicely tipsy on 3 gls of wine.... I have lost over 1 stone in weight since I arrived in Aus!

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bikenz2uk/sets/72157625470132038/